What Skip Holtz Leaving ECU Means for C-USA

When Skip Holtz made the decision to leave East Carolina, it opened up the can of worms that is 2010 Conference USA discussion.

Okay, Okay, I know it's the NFL playoffs, and conference championship week at that. But give me a break, I'll be writing nonstop all week about Peyton vs Rex, and Favre vs Brees, and all the excitement that comes along with what I consider to be "the most exciting NFL day of the year." But for now I'm going to give you my 2010 Conference USA Pre-Preview.

Last year Holtz lead the Pirates to a 7-1 conference record, en route to picking up a C-USA title and Liberty Bowl berth. East Carolina should still compete in 2010, but with Holtz leaving, and a lot of the coaching staff going with him, chances are the Pirates are going to see some sort of decline. I project East Carolina to fall to about a 5-3 conference record next year, giving them a probable second place finish in C-USA East.

The team that should win the East next year are the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss. Although they finished up poorly against Middle Tennessee, the Golden Eagles are returning enough of their core to get back to the top of the East. I'd feel confident projecting a 6-2 finish for them.

The rest of C-USA East I see sorting out as follows; UCF will finish 5-3, Marshall will finish 4-4, UAB will finish 3-5, while Memphis will continue to slip and fall to 1-7.

Conference USA West is far more interesting.

The return of Quarterback Case Keenum sets things up wonderfully for the Cougars of Houston. For much of 2009 they were a Top 25 team, but their fall towards the end of 2009 shouldn't carry over into the new season. Their lone competition in the C-USA West will come from Tulsa, and in-state rival SMU.

Tulsa should be better in 2010 after they had a step-back year in 2009. Though it will take time to adjust to a Western division that now features potent Houston and SMU offenses, Tulsa will likely compete in 2010, and at the very worst finish top 3 in the division and return to a Bowl game.

The Mustangs of SMU on the other hand are the wild cards of not only C-USA, but potentially a lot more next year. Their performance in the Hawaii Bowl has a lot of people looking towards Dallas, and head coach June Jones has pulled off bigger miracles than returning a one-time national powerhouse to prominence. It would be foolish not to fully anticipate a focused, well coached SMU team next year, that will in no way take a step back towards mediocrity.

The way I see C-USA West sorting out is SMU in first at 7-1, owning the head to head with Houston at 7-1. Tulsa will improve to 5-3, while UTEP and Rice will be 3-5. Tulane will be lucky to improve to 2-6.

In a SMU vs Southern Miss match up I would have to love the Mustangs chances. Last year Jones' target was the Hawaii Bowl. This year, Jones' target will be the Liberty Bowl. Losing Shawnbrey McNeal hurts, but the Mustangs will get over that loss. I believe Kyle Padron will be named the Mustang's starting QB, and he'll lead them to a C-USA championship next year.

If there's one thing we should have learned in the last decade it's never bet against June Jones reaching his targets. The man knows how to coach, and he's one of the ten best coaches in the nation. That's a fact.

SMU Roll 45-10 over Nevada in Hawaii Bowl

If you've followed Funk Football for the past few months, you'll know how big of an SMU supporter I am. I like June Jones, I want to see the Mustangs succeed, and when the bowl schedule came out they were given no chance (+21) in the Hawaii Bowl against Nevada.

Well tonight "no chance" translated into a 45-10 win for the Mustangs who went from 1-11 in 2008 to 8-5 in 2009. June Jones' homecoming to Hawaii couldn't have been better, the once-proud Mustangs are back in the national spotlight, and things continue to free-fall for the WAC.

Heading into the game there was a lot of question marks surrounding Kyle Padron and the 2010 starting role for the Mustangs. After breaking a school record for passing yards, nonetheless doing it in a bowl game, it's going to be hard not to give him the nod.

I'll put it out there now. The Mustangs are going to contend for a Top 25 spot in 2010. Houston almost pulled it off this year as a Conference USA team, and SMU's schedule (which always includes rival TCU) will be tough enough to earn them a Top 25 spot.

Jones has recruited well in Texas, Padron looked Brennan-esque(460 yards passing), and if SMU can get some defense going in Dallas next year, expect them to be in the Liberty Bowl next year, representing Conference USA.

SMU vs Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl

Okay, okay, I know I bore my readers to death with SMU and Hawaii news whenever relevant. I'm sorry for that, but what can I do? Not only do I love the small schools, but UH and SMU are my two favorite small schools to push.

For the same reason... pretty much.

I was always enchanted by the story of the "Pony Express" and the death penalty, and how SMU were once this titanic program. The reason you probably don't know they exist (unless you were alive in the early 1980's) is because since the late 80's they've been a joke of a program.

On the other side of fence are the Hawaii Warriors (who if you were alive in the early 1980's you refer to as the Rainbow Warriors) who were one of the worst programs in college football until June Jones came over and made the program a force; remember when they made the BCS in 2007 and got crushed by Georgia? Ouch. But Colt Brennan was then, is now, and forever will be considered one of the greatest college football quarterbacks of all time. At least by this blogger.

After that 2007 loss, Jones ditched Hawaii to go to SMU. To sum up the reason why: he figured he reached the ceiling at Hawaii as it seemed unlikely that the AD was going to allow the program to have the resources that their competition in the WAC (0r the wealthy and starved SMU for that matter) have.

In 2008 Hawaii (with Jones' players) had an alright season but lost in the Hawaii Bowl to Notre Dame in the game we all remember as "the one that saved Charlie Weis' job," or "the one that gave Notre Dame an excuse to let Charlie Weis stay another year because there were no good coaches available," or my favorite; "the one where Jimmy Clausen performed well enough to lead people to believe that Weis could win with him in 2009." That same 2008 season SMU went winless in Conference-USA, but no one expected it to be any different; SMU was in that bad shape.

This past spring there was a lot of talk about Hawaii being lost without Jones and Jones being lost without Hawaii.

That hasn't been the case in 2009 at all, and it may lead to the surprise treat of the Bowl season.

SMU have been impressive. They're not great, but they've been a lock for Bowl game since Halloween in most peoples eyes. Hawaii were pretty bad early on, but they've definitely turned it around, beating Navy this past week, leaving them a win against Wisconsin away from being Bowl eligible yet again.

Hawaii Bowl representatives were at the SMU-Tulane game on Saturday afternoon, and at this point it's a lock for SMU to be in that game. The only thing that could keep the Ponies out of it is a more attractive bowl offer (which may come from the Armed Forces Bowl... though I'm not sure how attractive that is outside of easy transportation). At the risk of sounding extremely corny, and making a lot of my friends want to beat me up, I still have to say that I think Jones and SMU will be saying "Aloha" to the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve.

As for that Hawaii vs Wisconsin game that will decide whether or not Hawaii are eligible; that will be a little tougher. Wisconsin are 8-3 and undefeated in out of conference play this year (Wofford, Fresno State, Northern Illinois: FS and NI are on Hawaii's level). If there's anything positive we can take from this game from a Hawaii standpoint, it's that Wisconsin are already Bowl eligible and the game is in Hawaii.

So let's go Warriors. The Jones vs Hawaii story would make everyone's Christmas Eve a lot better.

And let's face it, if it's SMU vs Hawaii you'll watch, if it's SMU vs Fresno State or Nevada, then who cares?

Please Hawaii. Please win.

And by the way... both Hawaii and SMU are in my Top 5 College Football Jerseys.

June Jones Does It: SMU Mustangs Are Bowl Bound

The national media doesn't touch upon smaller schools too often; but I'm not the national media.

To me, the small schools are a huge part of what makes college football so great. I love to monitor D1-AA schools, and personally I believe that no D1-A school in "minor."

When teams like Boise and TCU make runs at undefeated seasons, I absolutely get caught up in it; and no Cinderella team captivated me more than June Jones' 2007 Hawaii Warriors.

As you probably know, after the 2007 Sugar Bowl massacre to Matt Stafford's Georgia team, Jones packed his bags and headed to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he inherited a program that hadn't been to a bowl game since 1984.

For those who don't know the history, in 1987 the Mustangs, who were already on probation, got caught "paying players" and became the first team in NCAA history to receive the "death penalty," thereby terminating the schools football program. The Mustangs returned to the NCAA in 1989 but since have had only one winning season.

Before the death penalty, SMU were one of the nations elite College Football programs. In 1982, lead by running back Eric Dickerson, SMU shared a claim to the "national championship" after beating Dan Marino's Pitt team in the Cotton Bowl. In 1984, the Mustangs last bowl game, they defeated Notre Dame in the Aloha Bowl.

Today, thanks to a 35-31 over UTEP, SMU reached the magic number of 6 wins to pretty much guarantee the Mustangs a bowl berth.

But that's not all, SMU's win, combined with Houston's loss to UCF put SMU in first place in Conference USA-West; meaning that if SMU win out then they'll play in the Conference USA championship; a title that the Mustangs have never won.

SMU's most difficult contest will come this next week at Marshall. If they can win that they'll come home to host a relatively winnable game against a Tulane team.

If SMU slip up somewhere in the next two games, chances are they'll end up in Hawaii for the Hawaii Bowl. Not only bringing the Mustangs full circle 25 years later, but bringing June Jones back to the island where he meant so much to the program, the athletes, and the state.

Either way, college football is better when SMU are relevant.

For more of the SMU Football Scandal read this.